The Nativity: Fact or Fiction?

23 December 2006

In Genesis 3:15, God says to Satan ‘And
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on your head and you shall bruise him on the heel.’
Numerous Christian and Jewish Bible scholars have interpreted this verse as the
first prophecy of the Messiah (see documentation).
Known as the Protevangelium, it is the first Gospel promise made to sinful
mankind, whose willful rebellion in the Garden of Eden brought forth death, suffering,
and a corruption of God’s perfect creation.

This verse makes two implicit promises. First, it hints at the virginal conception,
as the Messiah is referred to as the seed of the woman. This is contrary to the
normal biblical practice of naming the father, and not the mother, of a child. Second,
it hints at the Messiah’s suffering and ultimate victory.

Christmas is the traditional time to celebrate the birth of the promised Messiah,
Jesus Christ. Christ’s birth is not only a fulfillment of several Old Testament
prophecies. It is a real event supported by highly credible, historical evidence.

The narratives of Christ’s nativity are found in the Gospels of Matthew and
Luke. Critics have often asserted that these accounts markedly differ from one another,
casting doubt on their historical reliability. In addition, they contain supernatural
events which those with a naturalistic worldview find hard to accept.

However, an open-minded analysis will reveal that the Nativity was a historically
credible event and that the supernatural accounts are not at all improbable, given
the existence of God. The investigation will focus primarily on Luke’s Gospel,
since his narrative is the longest and his reputation as an accurate historian is
well known in scholarly circles.

Who was Luke and what did he write?

Luke was a Greek physician and historian. He was the author of the Gospel of Luke
and the Acts of the Apostles, together accounting for 25% of the entire New Testament.1 In addition, he was a close companion
of Paul, the Jewish Pharisee who converted to Christianity after initially beating,
imprisoning, and executing early Christians.

… archaeological discoveries are showing over and over again that Luke is
accurate in what he has to say.

Luke’s Gospel opens with an explicit declaration of intent to establish an
accurate historical record of the life of Christ. And his historical investigation
is based on direct and indirect eyewitness accounts from Paul, Peter, James, Mark,
Mary (Jesus’ mother), and other early Christians.2

Luke’s historical scholarship is held in the highest esteem. Consider the
words of Sir William Mitchell Ramsay
(1851–1939), the archaeologist and professor from Oxford and Cambridge Universities:

Luke is a historian of the first rank … This author should be placed along
with the very greatest of historians.2

Renowned archaeologist, John McRay, states:

He’s erudite, he’s eloquent, his Greek approaches classical quality,
he writes as an educated man, and archaeological discoveries are showing over and
over again that Luke is accurate in what he has to say.1

When did Luke write the Nativity story?

Many scholars date Luke’s Gospel around AD 80.
However, they tend to ignore the cogent arguments of the liberal New Testament scholar
J.A.T. Robinson for dating all the Gospels from AD
40–65 (see a summary of the reasons, and
more information). Thus Luke should be dated around AD
60, since it is the first of Luke’s two-volume work.3
But even if the older were true, then Luke’s Gospel was written about fifty
years after Christ.

Why is this important? Temporal proximity is a crucial factor in establishing historical
reliability. In other words, the closer the writings are to the actual events, the
more likely they are to be accurate and free from legendary contamination.

A.N. Sherwin-White (1911–1993), the eminent classical historian from Oxford
University, conducted a careful study of Greek and Roman history to determine the
rate at which legend accumulates. The evidence revealed that not even two full generations
would be enough for legendary development to wipe out the historical core of a historical
story, as he says:

The agnostic type of form-criticism would be much more credible if the compilation
of the Gospels were much later in time ... . Herodotus enables us to test the tempo
of myth-making, [showing that] even two generations are too short a span to allow
the mythical tendency to prevail over the hard historic core.4

Ironically, adding at least two generations to Jesus’ death lands you in the
second century AD, the exact time when the apocryphal
gospels begin to appear. Therefore, Luke’s nativity narrative, even if written
about fifty years after Christ, is well within two generations. Thus Sherwin-White
had good reason to say:

For the New Testament of Acts, the confirmation of historicity is overwhelming …
any attempt to reject its basic historicity, even in matters of detail, must now
appear absurd. Roman historians have long taken it for granted.5

How does Luke’s Gospel compare to other famous historical texts?

There are two generally reliable accounts of Hannibal (247–183 BC) crossing
the Alps in 218 BC to attack Rome. Polybius (c. 200 – c. 118 BC),
a Greek historian, chronicled Hannibal’s invasion at least 50 years after
the actual event.6 Livy (c. 59 BC –
AD 17), a Roman historian, wrote of Hannibal’s invasion about
190 years after the actual event.7

Another famous event in history was Julius Caesar (100–44
BC) crossing the Rubicon in 49 BC without
disbanding his army.8Suetonius
(c.
69/75
– after 130), a Roman historian, wrote his historical account of
Caesar crossing the Rubicon at least 110 years after the event,9and it is considered to be generally reliable. In addition, the two earliest
biographies of Alexander the Great, written by Arrian and Plutarch, were written
over 400 years after his death.2 And these biographies
are considered to be generally trustworthy. See also the comparison in The Bible's Manuscript Evidence.

Aren’t there discrepancies between Luke’s and Matthew’s Nativity
accounts?

An ill-informed skeptic might view these discrepancies as contradictions. However,
a historian would note that these apparent inconsistencies are all in the secondary
details. Despite the differences in secondary details, there is a historically reliable
core that is common to both Gospels. The virgin Mary is told by an angel that she
will conceive by the Holy Spirit. She is told to name the boy Jesus. The baby Jesus
is born in Bethlehem, and after a short time, they return to Nazareth.

The two historical accounts of Hannibal crossing the Alps are completely inconsistent
in their secondary details.10
However, no classical historian doubts that Hannibal crossed the Alps to attack
Rome. There is still a historical core to a historical story that is considered
very credible.

Aren’t there problems with Luke’s census?

Image from www.sxc.hu

Images like this show the wise men visiting the baby in the stable. However, this
event was about a year after the birth.

Many critics assert that there is no evidence of the census that brought Joseph
and Mary to Bethlehem. However, there is evidence for three different censuses around
the time of Christ. First, Josephus (c.37 – c.100AD), the
famous Jewish historian, records a census around AD
6.11 Second, a papyrus dated from
AD 48 indicates that the entire family was involved
in a census.12 Third, an official
government order in AD 104 records how the Roman Prefect
of Egypt ordered all people to return to their own homes to carry out the census.12 Therefore, there is historical precedent for
the type of census that is described in the Gospel of Luke.

Luke also writes that the census was conducted when Quirinius was governing Syria,
during the reign of Herod the Great. The problem is that Herod died in 4
BC and Quirinius didn’t begin ruling Syria until
AD 6. However, renowned archaeologist Sir William Ramsay concluded
from various coin inscriptions that Quirinius ruled Syria on two separate occasions.12 Also, some Greek language scholars have declared
that Luke’s text should actually be translated, ‘This census took place
before Quirinius was governing Syria.’ (See
this discussion on the census for documentation.) Either way, credible explanations
exist.

How can we accept the miraculous events of the Nativity?

It has already been established that Luke is considered one of the most reliable
historians of all time. The argument that his documentation of supernatural occurrences
somehow undermines his reliability can only be utilized by presupposing that the
God of the Bible does not exist. On the other hand, if one presupposes the existence
of the God of the Bible, then the account of His miraculous intervention at the
Nativity is perfectly logical and internally consistent. See also
Miracles and Science.

Conclusion

Christ’s birth is one of the greatest events in all of history. Although the
popular media and most educational institutions largely ridicule the biblical version
of the Nativity (see Time and Newsweek blatantly attack
Christian doctrine for a refutation of a systematic attack two years ago),
a fair-minded analysis paints a different picture. Foretold by Old Testament prophecies,
supported by historical evidence, and logically feasible based on the existence
of the God of the Bible, the Nativity is much more than just a nice story. It is
the story of the Creator of the universe bursting into human history as a physical
descendant of the first Adam. Yet, unlike the first Adam who became a sinful man,
Christ was without sin (Hebrews 4:15). As the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45), Christ was born into this world
to suffer a humiliating death on the cross in order to die for the sins of the whole
world. ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal
life.’ (John 3:16; see also Good News!)

The Rubicon is a river in modern-day northern
Italy marking the border between the ancient provinces of Cisalpine Gaul and Italy.
Roman generals were supposed to disband their armies before crossing it on their
return to Rome. By refusing to do so, Caesar was declaring war.
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